# French aviso Commandant Ducuing

Commandant Ducuing (F795) is a D'Estienne d'Orves-class aviso in the French Navy. The vessel is home ported at Toulon.

## Design

Crewed by 90 sailors, these vessels have the reputation of being among the most difficult in bad weather. Their high windage makes them particularly sensitive to pitch and roll as soon as the sea is formed.
Their armament, consequent for a vessel of this tonnage, allows them to manage a large spectrum of missions. During the Cold War, they were primarily used to patrol the continental shelf of the Atlantic Ocean in search of Soviet Navy submarines. Due to the poor performance of the hull sonar, as soon as an echo appeared, the reinforcement of an anti-submarine warfare frigate was necessary to chase it using its towed variable depth sonar.
Their role as patrollers now consists mainly of patrol and assistance missions, as well as participation in UN missions (blockades, flag checks) or similar marine policing tasks (fight against drugs, extraction of nationals, fisheries control, etc.). Their anti-ship missiles have been landed, but they carry several machine guns more suited to their current missions.
The vessel's construction cost was estimated at 270,000,000 French francs.

## Construction and career

Commandant Ducuing was laid down on 1 October 1980 at Arsenal de Lorient, Lorient. Launched on 26 September 1981 and commissioned on 17 March 1983.
She took part in Opération Artimon in 1990. In April 2009 the aviso took part in Operation Tanit, an operation to free a French yacht that was hijacked by Somali pirates. The aviso, sailing from Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, made a stopover on 8 and 9 June 2010 at the Iraqi port of Umm Qasr, which was a first for a French ship for 32 years.
In June 2015, the ship was responsible for monitoring bluefin tuna fishing off Malta.
In 2022, it was indicated that the ship would be equipped with the SMDM (navy mini-drone system) to enhance her surveillance capabilities. In 2022–23, the ship deployed to the Gulf of Guinea for two months to assist local navies in countering, principally Chinese, illegal overfishing.
She is scheduled to be withdrawn from service in 2025 and be replaced by one of a new class of ocean-going Patrol Vessels (the Patrouilleurs Hauturiers).

## Citations

* 1 2 3 "Patrouilleurs: Les avisos français sur tous les fronts" [Patrol ships: French Avisos on all fronts.] (in French). Association de Soutien à l'Armée Française. 26 January 2017. Retrieved 6 June 2020.
* 1 2 Groizeleau, Vincent (23 June 2022). "En attendant les POM, trois PHM déjà prêts à recevoir le système de mini-drones de la marine". Mer et Marine (in French). Retrieved 24 August 2022.
* ↑ "Euronaval: First details of the Patrouilleurs Océanique (PO) platform unveiled". Naval News. 23 October 2020. Retrieved 17 September 2021.
* ↑ Frémy, Dominique (1995). Quid 1996. p. 2036. ISBN 2-221-08055-6.
* ↑ magazine, Le Point. "Le Point – Actualité Politique, Monde, France, Économie, High-Tech, Culture". Le Point.fr (in French). Archived from the original on 30 June 2020. Retrieved 17 September 2021.
* ↑ "Un navire français dans un port irakien". Le Figaro (in French). Agence France Presse. 8 June 2010. Retrieved 17 September 2021.
* ↑ "L'aviso Cdt Ducuing en opération de police des pêches". colsbleus.fr. Archived from the original on 17 September 2021. Retrieved 17 September 2021.
* ↑ Groizeleau, Vincent (10 February 2023). "Pêche illicite : le Ducuing participe à la traque des bateaux chinois dans le golfe de Guinée". Mer et Marine (in French).
* ↑ Groizeleau, Vincent (6 May 2021). "La Marine nationale va rapidement désarmer ses derniers PHM" [The French Navy will quickly disarm its last PHM]. Mer et Marine (in French). Retrieved 15 June 2021.